Learn Hardcore French: Ta montre est jolie, mais mon budget est trop petit pour l’acheter. - Your watch is pretty, but my budget is too small to buy it.

In French, possessive adjectives (mon/ma/mes, ton/ta/tes, son/sa/ses, etc.) agree with the gender and number of the noun they modify, not with the possessor. Montre is feminine (une montre), so you use ta (feminine singular). Note: you would use ton before a feminine noun starting with a vowel or mute h (e.g., ton horloge) to avoid a vowel clash, but since montre starts with m, it remains ta montre.

Why is the adjective jolie placed after être, and could we put it before the noun?

When you describe something with être, the adjective is in predicative position and always follows the verb: Ta montre est jolie. If you want to use the adjective attributively (directly with the noun), you place it before the noun: ta jolie montre. Both are correct, but the syntax changes from Noun + être + Adjective to Adjective + Noun.

Can I use belle instead of jolie here?

Yes. Ta montre est belle is perfectly natural and means “your watch is beautiful.” Jolie means “pretty” or “cute,” while belle means “beautiful” or “lovely.” Choosing one over the other only changes the nuance of how strongly you praise the watch.

Why do we say mon budget and not ma budget?

Because budget is a masculine noun in French, so it requires the masculine possessive adjective mon, not the feminine ma. Always match the gender (and number) of the noun: mon budget (masculine), ma robe (feminine), mes clés (plural), etc.

Why is it trop petit, and why does trop go before petit?

Trop is an adverb meaning “too” (as in “too small”). In French, adverbs that modify adjectives are placed directly before the adjective: trop petit = “too small.” Reversing them (petit trop) would be ungrammatical.

Why do we use pour + infinitive here?

The construction pour + infinitive expresses purpose or result, equivalent to “to” or “in order to” in English. After an adjective of limitation like trop, use pour + infinitive to show what cannot happen: trop petit pour l’acheter = “too small to buy it.”

Why is it l’acheter and not le acheter or acheter la montre, and where does the pronoun go?

In French, direct-object pronouns (le, la, les) are placed before the verb or infinitive they refer to. Here le (referring to la montre) combines with acheter to become l’acheter (elision because acheter starts with a vowel). So pour l’acheter means “to buy it.” Alternatively, you could say pour acheter la montre, but using l’acheter avoids repeating la montre.